


a modern mankind with their egos of fire

by smallredboy



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Coming Out, Gen, Neopronouns, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Greg House, Nonbinary Remy "Thirteen" Hadley, Team Dynamics, Trans Greg House, no transphobia or binarism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-17 05:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21049073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallredboy/pseuds/smallredboy
Summary: Thirteen has something to tell the team.





	a modern mankind with their egos of fire

**Author's Note:**

> for trope bingo with the square "genderswap". genderswaps are usually conflated with cisswaps, but i've decided to make people trans instead.
> 
> enjoy!

Thirteen can deal with all the jabs in the world, from Kutner and House and Taub and whoever else who decides to stick their nose in hir business. Ze has heard it all about hir sexuality, every single stereotype in the book (the fact ze fills the 'slutty bisexual' one to a T doesn't help, either), but ze hasn't talked about how ze doesn't fit in _ other _ binary box. 

It's scary, really, it is. Ze really doesn't want to not do this, but how they'll react makes hir blood run cold with nerves. Ze can hear House's low chuckle, Kutner staring at hir like ze's a freak of nature. Taub would be the worst to deal with, though, ze knows that much. His heterosexual, painfully binary lifestyle won't let him have any understanding or any empathy. 

"I have something to tell you all," ze starts one morning, when House finally settles down on his chair at the differential diagnosis room. 

House raises a brow. "Are you a murderer with a fake identity on the run?"

Taub chuckles a little at that. 

"No," ze says, smiling at him even as nerves wrack through hir body, making hir sick to hir stomach. "It's a lot, ah, more boring than that, I believe." Ze pauses and looks at Foreman, at the man ze has been threading at a relationship with. He's bisexual too, but ah, ze doubts he'll _ get _ it. "I'm outside of the gender binary. I'm not a man or a woman. I'm non-binary."

Ze closes his eyes, almost waiting for insults to rain down on them, but there's not a single word uttered from anyone. Ze awaits for it to come for several seconds before slowly opening hir eyes and seeing Taub's perplexed yet curious look; Foreman's small, understanding smile; Kutner nodding, eyes glinting; and House _ grinning _. 

"Why…" ze starts, hir voice a little scratchy. "Why are none of you saying anything?"

"I've heard of it a few times before," Taub tells hir. "Mostly in, like, papers about non-Western countries. But if they can do it, I don't see why a white American wo— _ person _, sorry—”

Kutner interrupts him. “I’ve read about the officially recognized third sex in India, hijra, and it’s like— as Taub said, if brown folks can do it, why can’t you? Power to you, Thirteen.”

"I've met loads of nonbinary people at the LGBT café I go to," Foreman says, as if he had been waiting for his turn. "It's all cool. D'you plan on changing your pronouns?"

"Ah!" Thirteen smiles, not noticing the way House opens and closes his mouth, like he was about to say something but respecting hir turn in conversation. That would be a miracle. "Well, I've been going online by ze and hir pronouns. Ze is a doctor; hir name is Thirteen; that water bottle is hirs. Simple stuff, but it is not a standard pronoun, so don't sweat it."

Taub smiles at hir. "I'll try my best. Sorry in advance if I slip up."

"No worries." Thirteen turns to House. "And…, uh…"

"I'm nonbinary too," House says. 

Kutner’s eyes widen. "What?"

"Gender's made up," he continues. "I don't care much about pronouns, but I'm used to he and him. I transitioned into living as a man when I was in undergrad, so I didn't precisely know that was an option. But I've always felt more neutral than a man. A masculine kind of agender, would be the term I’m looking for, perhaps." He takes a long pause. "Although, if I were ever to go to one of those events, I'd call myself a nonbinary trans man, to save everyone time."

Thirteen grins at him from ear to ear. "Great!" ze says, clapping hir hands together. "That's great. I had no idea you were trans. Your toxic masculinity hides it pretty well."

House laughs and sticks his togue out at hir. "There's a difference between being an ass and toxic masculinity, and I _ am _ it."

Ze laughs, and Foreman is smiling a little, too. 

"That's fair," ze says. "Oh, by the way, Thirteen's a great name. I don't mind my legal name, but you all never call me it, so. Ya know. Doesn't really matter."

“Great!” House says, standing up. “Well, Thirteen, ze’s nonbinary, but we have bigger matter to attend to. Mainly, if you all have a case.”

Kutner grins at him and hands him a case file.

Thirteen tilts hir head and smiles as they start to work on the case. Yeah, working under House has its perks sometimes.


End file.
